Intellectual Biography
Being born and raised in North Vancouver, I have an unimaginable appreciation and respect for the outdoors, the environment and the people whose land this truly belongs to; the Coast Salish First Nations people. I come from a family that has lived through civil war, genocide and persecution and I feel as though this has given me a better understanding of what the First Nations people of Canada have gone through in the settlement of Europeans and expansion of the West. My parents are both Iranian by blood, but my mother was born in Ethiopia and later moved to the Central African Republic while my father was born in Iran and left to attend a boarding school in England. My father’s father was killed in Iran by government officials due to religious views and the rest of my father’s family fled the country and sought refuge in Canada.
At a very young age, my eldest brother, Bayan was diagnosed with a brain tumour running along his brainstem and attaching to his spinal cord. This, along with all his surgeries, treatments, and medical needs has had a significant impact on my family and my personal worldview. Growing up with a sibling needing 24-hour care and attention has been a blessing and a curse. Everything we have gone through as a family regarding Bayan’s health has brought us closer together and prepared us for anything else life has to throw at us.
At the end of March 2018, my brother Bayan passed onto the next world. Although the years of preparation did help to some extent, he is still dearly missed on a daily basis. I thank him for everything he has taught me, from how to tie my shoes, to not judging people based on initial perception and most importantly, to persevere through any limitations you may have.
I attribute my love for helping others and my interest in First Nations people to my childhood and upbringing and wouldn’t change it for the world. Before coming into the Liberal Studies program, I was enrolled in the Community Development and Social Change program with hopes of finding work connected to First Nations youth. I began working towards that goal in high school when I started a non-religious youth group on a local First Nations Reserve in North Vancouver.
This youth group brought kids ages 12-15 together to discover and identify with their peoples’ traditional lifeways, celebrations and culture. We studied stories of children around the world facing similar difficulties and discussed ways in which they could deal with said troubles. Although the main focus of this youth group was not only to give the youth a sense of belonging and a place in which they could come together and be safe, but it was also a place of rendering service to the community around them. Within the first two years of the CLSC program, not only did I learn a tremendous amount about myself and my aspirations, I also learned many of the things we are currently studying and will continue to study in LBST through an interdisciplinary model.
I hope to continue my studies and further my education to ultimately work with First Nations people in Vancouver, although I understand it may be difficult to do so due to my limited knowledge in the field and being of an outside community. I hope my years working on the Reserve as well as my time in the CLSC program will aide and assist me in finding and following my destined path.
Not only have I recently discovered my love for First Nations people, in the last year with LBST 200 and LBST 201, I have also found a passion for conducting research. Although I enjoy conducting quantitative research far more than qualitative research, as I am a linear person and do well with structure, I do thoroughly enjoy gaining knowledge through scientific methods and trying new things. I hope to find a way to incorporate both my interests in research and First Nations people.